A plan participant in one of Rollins Inc.'s 401(k) plans filed an ERISA class-action lawsuit, alleging the company violated its fiduciary duties in the money management of its plans.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta on Dec. 20 by plan participant Marcia G. Fleming, alleges the Atlanta-based consumer- and commercial-services company and its Western Industries-North subsidiary violated their duties under the Employee Retirement Income Securities Act of 1974 as a result of "imprudent, arbitrary and excessive fee structures in the plans because defendants' inclusion of those options deprived participants of the opportunity to grow their retirement savings by investing in prudent options with reasonable fees," according to the filing.
The suit alleges that the plans imprudently used seven retail mutual funds as investment options in the plans as of Dec. 31, 2009, rather than utilizing institutional shares despite the "massive size of the plans" and those options remained in the plans during the years to come.
The suit also says the company violated its fiduciary duties by providing only one passive investment option in its lineup until 2015, when four more passive funds were added.
As of Dec. 31, 2018, the Rollins 401(k) Plan had $713 million in assets and the Western Industries Retirement Savings Plan had $31 million in assets, according to the company's most recent 11-K filings.
“The Rollins plan has been well and prudently administered and has generated solid returns for its participants through a breadth of investment options. Rollins and the fiduciaries intend to aggressively defend this lawsuit and all claims to the contrary,” according to a statement emailed by Rollins spokeswoman Lia Vaughn.
Paul J. Sharman, attorney for the plaintiff at The Sharman Law Firm LLC, could not be immediately reached for comment.
